Tatuaje sued by Altadis USA

UPDATE: the lawsuits have been settled.

We haven’t seen a huge lawsuit in the cigar industry for a while, and here it is (it’s a few months old but I thought I should share) – Goliath, Altadis USA, against David, Pete Johnson from Tatuaje. The object of the lawsuit is the Fleur de Lys symbol, present both in the Tatuaje logo and in the logo of non-Cuban Montecristo cigars.

With all the lawyers Altadis have and considering the fact that they used the Fleur de Lys before Tatuaje, for me it is unlikely that Pete Johnson will be able to win this case. Some fervent supporters of Tatuaje have already created a petition to boycott Altadis products.

What is your opinion? Is Altadis right to protect its intellectual property (is the fleur de lys a defendable property?) or they are just jealous of Pete Johnson’s success?